Posted on 17-Dec-2014
By Lance Corporal Teh Eng Hong of 12th Kuala Lumpur Company 
October 26th, 2014
Many BB members or NCOs have lots and lots of projects in a year, many of which are completed on time or some slightly delayed. Regardless, it is still completed. Did you know that there are several factors why over-committing to several BB projects can be a bad thing? I am sure many of you would agree with me that over-committing is not only unwise; it can also jeopardises one’s reputation. This is very true especially in the case of an NCO’s journey in leadership in the BB Company.
The meaning of over-commit according to the Oxford English Dictionary is "to do more than they are capable of". By undertaking the act of over-committing in itself, you are already taking a risk. In this case, you are taking up several, project.. and by several I mean four or five projects in one go, and is expected to finish within a deadline. What motivates people to over-commit is simply because they want to be a "hero" - to do it like a one man show. Another reason is because there is no one else to do it. Let us read on the factors why committing to multiple projects in BB, or anything else, can be a rather bad thing.
One factors is because you will start losing your enthusiasm, given time. An example of such a scenario, an NCO takes up several projects at one go - redesigning the BB notice board, organise BB Boot Camp, and plan out drill plan for the following year. Each one of the tasks that I listed above is already a monumental task. In fact, to even manage to complete one of the above perfectly is already challenging. By over-committing, you already multiply the difficulty of the work by a factor of three. You would begin to lose your enthusiasm when the stress begins to catch up. Therefore, we should not over-commit to that many causes in the first place. It can be a bad thing.
Another factor why over-committing to several projects in the BB can be a rather bad thing because you would feel rather panicky when the deadline as the approaches. You will feel panicked, because time is money, and you have several projects on your plate while you have other things to balance, such as your academic work as well as many others. It will also take its toll on your mental health. You will begin to feel grouchy or grumpy. When it goes begin to affect your mental health, you may find yourself unintentionally taking out your frustration with your friends when you really don’t mean it.
The final point on why over-committing to several projects in the BB can bring adverse effects is that you may end up not delivering the desired result. In the BB, punctuality is the core for lots and lots of projects. You would need to get back to the Sergeants or the Officers on whatever project you are working on and it will look very bad on you when you fail to deliver the result promised. You will start to look bad amongst the officers and maybe your friends.
So, in conclusion, over-committing to several BB projects in one go can be a very bad thing. Let’s think twice before over-committing shall we?